I can look back on history too, and here's what I see: geniuses may have very high intelligence in some areas, but this is usually not present in ALL areas. In fact, in other areas, most geniuses have some deep flaw. For example, Einstein was a brilliant man, but socially? The guy never bathed, he used bar soap on his hair, and he never did memorize his address (felt there was no point, since he could look it up).
Many geniuses have distinct trouble in other areas, most often social intelligence and common sense (application of knowledge in everyday situations). We have a tendency to feel that someone who has extreme intelligence in the realm of logic and facts, math and science, creativity and art, is the epitomy of genius--but we don't apply this to those who have extreme intelligence socially, for some reason.
I don't believe in a higher intelligence, as it were, but if I did, most of our geniuses wouldn't be people I'd think were "resonating" with them. Not unless higher intelligence itself is deeply flawed in some ways.....
Occasionally also I think "genius" is applied to people who really aren't geniuses at all. Buckminster Fuller, for example, was a highly influentual person, but his intelligence level was not at genius level. However, he thought outside the box--he created new ideas and concepts which have been invaluable in our understanding of a great many things.
(For those unfamiliar, this is the man who invented the geodesic dome house, among other things).
So is genius truly a thing to be lauded above others? I personally place a very high value on intelligence, and I think it can be a fair trade to lose some social intelligence in trade for higher learning rate and capacity in other areas.....but there MUST be others who don't have that social handicap, or we'll be in even more trouble as a species.
Ironically, the IQ average in born-psis (using several hundred as a sample) is a good 10 or more points above the general population's average. But it must certainly be admitted that the pattern is kept, and born-psis tend to have lower social intelligence and related skills.
--Winged Wolf
"I will stare at the sun until its light doesn't blind me, and I will walk into the fire, 'til its heat doesn't burn me, and I will feed the fire...."
Many geniuses have distinct trouble in other areas, most often social intelligence and common sense (application of knowledge in everyday situations). We have a tendency to feel that someone who has extreme intelligence in the realm of logic and facts, math and science, creativity and art, is the epitomy of genius--but we don't apply this to those who have extreme intelligence socially, for some reason.
I don't believe in a higher intelligence, as it were, but if I did, most of our geniuses wouldn't be people I'd think were "resonating" with them. Not unless higher intelligence itself is deeply flawed in some ways.....
Occasionally also I think "genius" is applied to people who really aren't geniuses at all. Buckminster Fuller, for example, was a highly influentual person, but his intelligence level was not at genius level. However, he thought outside the box--he created new ideas and concepts which have been invaluable in our understanding of a great many things.
(For those unfamiliar, this is the man who invented the geodesic dome house, among other things).
So is genius truly a thing to be lauded above others? I personally place a very high value on intelligence, and I think it can be a fair trade to lose some social intelligence in trade for higher learning rate and capacity in other areas.....but there MUST be others who don't have that social handicap, or we'll be in even more trouble as a species.
Ironically, the IQ average in born-psis (using several hundred as a sample) is a good 10 or more points above the general population's average. But it must certainly be admitted that the pattern is kept, and born-psis tend to have lower social intelligence and related skills.
--Winged Wolf
"I will stare at the sun until its light doesn't blind me, and I will walk into the fire, 'til its heat doesn't burn me, and I will feed the fire...."